Pekka Kallioniemi Profile picture
May 9 26 tweets 11 min read Read on X
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a Georgian politician &oligarch, Bidzina Ivanishvili. He’s best-known launching the pro-Kremlin Georgian Dream party, and for running the government from behind the scenes, slowly shifting Georgia’s course from the West back to Russia.

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Ivanishvili was born and raised in a small village in Georgia. Their family was poor but he showed a business mindset from a young age. In 1988, he moved to Moscow and began his first business, importing and selling computers with Vitaly Malkin, a Russian-Israeli oligarch.

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The rapid growth of Ivanishvili’s businesses can be attributed to his close ties with government officials. In 1996, he joined Seven Bankers (семибанкирщина), a group of influential Russian bankers who supported Boris Yeltsin’s re-election.

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He financed Lebed, a presidential candidate designed to siphon votes from the communists and secure Yeltsin’s election. Lebed’s subsequent appointment as governor of Krasnoyarsk opened the door for Ivanishvili to engage in extremely shady business deals in that region.

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Later Ivanishvili became a major shareholder of Gazprom, but claimed in a 2011 interview to have sold his entire stake at 100% profit. Nevertheless, in 2018, former Georgian President Saakashvili alleged that Ivanishvili still held a major stake there.

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In 2002, Ivanishvili left Russia, first moving to France and then returning to Georgia. He maintained an extremely secretive profile until he entered politics in 2011. When he founded the Georgian Dream Party that year, few Georgians even knew what he looked like.

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Despite avoiding public appearances, Ivanishvili’s team facilitated rumors of his philanthropy. He built the large Holy Trinity Orthodox church & provided monthly stipends to notable figures in sports and arts, leveraging their support later to propel his electoral victory.

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Ivanishvili entered politics in 2011 with an open letter criticizing Saakashvili’s "autocratic governance" and worsening relations with Russia. He promised to steer Georgia toward NATO and EU membership while stabilizing ties with Russia and boosting the economy.

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Ivanishvili and his team made promises that now seem outlandish, such as investing $1 billion in agriculture, and each of Georgia’s 6,000+ villages getting 5 million USD. The latter promise was promoted by former Soviet actress, Sopiko Chiaureli.

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Ivanishvili himself vowed to build a democracy that would "shock" the West and Europe, and to treat political opponents with dignity. This claim now seems the most absurd, given the numerous political opponents who have been arrested, persecuted, or physically assaulted.

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Since taking power, Ivanishvili has pursued politically motivated persecution of his opponents. So far, he’s imprisoned several opposition members, including former President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili and other ministers from his party.

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As is tradition, Ivanishvili took over Georgia’s largest media corporations, turning formerly critical media outlets into pro-government ones. Later he also arrested the former CEO of TV Broadcast, Nika Gvaramia.

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In one of his interviews, Ivanishvili remarked that the worst thing to happen to Georgians was the opening of borders with EU countries. He explained that seeing how well Europeans lived made Georgians less content with their own lives and more desperate.

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Ivanishvili formally left all political positions in 2013 but continues to be seen as the shadow ruler of Georgian politics. To this day, high-level officials regularly visit Ivanishvili in his "Glass Palace," located in the mountains overlooking Tbilisi.

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All close to him got lucrative positions: his personal assistant became the Prime Minister, his chief bodyguard the Minister of Interior Affairs, and his second bodyguard took over the state protection. He even made his personal dentist the Minister of Healthcare.

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Throughout the years, Ivanishvili and his family faced multiple scandals, especially his rapper son Bera. A leaked audio captured Bera ordering the head of Special State Protection Service to intimidate teenagers who insulted him online.

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Another leaked phone call audio emerged from March of 2022. When Russians were already killing Ukrainians in Bucha, Kherson and Mariupol, Bidzina Ivanishvili was talking with Russian oligarch Yevtushenkov discussing the ways to help him avoid sanctions.

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Although there were always indications that Ivanishvili’s government leaned towards Russia rather than Europe, this became most evident when the Russian-Ukrainian war started. Ivanishvili’s government did not join sanctions against Russia and even blocked planes meant...

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...to transport Georgian volunteers to fight for Ukraine. This stance led to protests on Georgia’s streets, prompting President Zelenskyy to label the Georgian government’s actions as shameful when addressing protesters in front of the parliament building of Georgia.

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But the largest protests erupted when the government reintroduced the contentious "Russian Law," which labels NGOs and media organizations receiving Western funding as "Foreign Agents" — a term considered extremely derogatory in Georgia.

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Hundreds of thousands took to the streets in opposition to the bill. Similar bill’s introduction in Russia led to the shutdown of numerous NGOs and TV channels, showcasing its potentially repressive impact. Essentially, it grants Ivanishvili’s government the power to...

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...target and potentially shut down any NGO or media outlet that doesn’t align with their agenda. Alongside the controversial "Russian Law," Ivanishvili introduced the "Offshore Law," enabling the tax-free repatriation of his offshore wealth. Some have speculated that...

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...Ivanishvili is preparing for potential western sanctions by consolidating his capital in Georgia, restricting NGOs’ access to Western funds, and becoming the primary funding source within the country. In his latest speech from Apr 2024, Ivanishvili publicly denounced...

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..the West as the "Global War Party," blaming it for deteriorating relations between Georgia, Ukraine, and Russia. He attributed the conflicts in Ukraine and Georgia’s 2008 war with Russia to Western actions, and also criticized the West for abandoning "traditional values".
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For almost a month, Georgian youth have been protesting the reintroduction of this bill, viewing it as Bidzina Ivanishvili’s final step in cementing his rule as an ultimate dictator.

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This soup was brewed in collaboration with @dachigubadze.

Find us also on other socials:

instagram.com/vatniksoup/
youtube.com/@TheSoupCentra…
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More from @P_Kallioniemi

May 6
In today´s #vatniksoup REBREW, I´ll introduce a Hungarian lawyer and politician, Viktor Orbán (@PM_ViktorOrban). He´s best-known for turning Hungary into an authoritarian state, and for cooperating with other authoritarian regimes like the Kremlin, the CCP and Iran.

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Orbán has been Hungary´s Prime Minister since 2010, and under his leadership the country has basically become the first nondemocracy in the EU. Orbán himself has described Hungary as an "illiberal state", and he´s used the Kremlin playbook to create it.

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He created a nationwide right-wing media network and interfering with independent media has plummeted Hungary´s Press Freedom Index into 67th place, one of the worst in the EU. The state has also spied on Hungarian journalists by using the infamous Pegasus spyware.

3/24


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Read 26 tweets
Apr 29
In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce a Russian social media personality and vatnik archetype, Mr. G (@Wagnersfamily). He's best-known for sharing the most outrageous Kremlin lies, albeit previously being extremely anti-Putin and Kremlin, even coining the term "vatnik".

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It's worth noting, that G is an extremely irrelevant account and person, but his almost comical descent from an anti-Putin, fully fledged Russian Liberal, to full blown vatnik, who doesn't hesitate to lie and naturally lives outside of Russia, is worth demonstrating.

2/19


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In his liberal days G was dedicated to popularizing the vatnik meme. He ran the site together with his friend, and also the @trueVATNIK Twitter account, which went inactive in 2015, but was popular in circles opposed to Putin's imperialist ambitions.

3/19 vatnik.today



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Read 20 tweets
Apr 26
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll intoduce an Italian propagandist, Vittorio Nicola Rangeloni. He’s best-known for producing pro-Kremlin propaganda from Donbas for the Italian-speaking audience, and for breaking the Geneve conventions by interviewing prisoners of war.

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Rango grew up in Lecco, Italy. His mother was Russian, and because of this young Vittorio was told about the virtues and wonders of Russkiy Mir and the superiority of the communist system.

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In his early 20s, Rango was yet to discover his role in this world. He enjoyed traveling, and decided to take his humble savings of 3000 EUR to relocate to his dream destination in the newly formed and completely made-up Donetsk People’s Republic.

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Read 21 tweets
Apr 25
I've actually noticed this trend on TikTok with our videos - they do relatively well on YouTube, Instagram and X, but fail miserably on CCP's spying app. In the second photo you can see views for our videos, on other platforms these ranged from 500 to 120 000.

"TikTok is more focused on entertainment, dance videos and such" - Well, not really. According to a study, account registered as a 13 year old was quickly served with conflict-related content, and the account quickly delved deep into the conflict rabbit hole.

I decided to do a little non-scientific test: I created an account, used VPN to relocate myself to the US, and just watched what the TikTok algorithm offered me. I didn't like or comment any videos and finished every video that was shown. My age was set to 18.

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At first, the algorithm seemed to show me some of the most popular videos on the platform, mostly consisting of cute animals, comedy and babies.

Then, after 30 or so videos, I was shown this video demonstrating the "superiority" of Chinese kindergartens.

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Then, a few more cute animals and a relatively attractive girl dancing. Then, again video about Chinese kindergartens. This time I wanted to see what happens if I interact with the post, and I liked the video.

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Read 4 tweets
Apr 24
In today´s #vatniksoup REBREW, I´ll introduce a Canadian propagandist & social media personality, Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate). He´s best-known for whitewashing al-Assad´s & Russia's war crimes in Syria & for denying Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential elections.

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Maté´s biography reads an awful lot like his collaborator @MaxBlumenthal´s. Another failson of a well-to-do and famous father, in this case, of bestselling Canadian pop psychologist Gabor Maté, Aaron similarly fought a losing struggle to make a career in liberal journalism.

2/24
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Maté´s personal life is also a bit weird. Records show he was married to a former NPR reporter named @StarleeKine, yet neither he nor Kine have ever publicly acknowledged their marriage on social media,even at the time it took place. Perhaps this is because it also...

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Read 25 tweets
Apr 22
In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce an American propagandist and political commentator, Ben Swann (@BenSwann_). He's best-known for spreading conspiracy theories related to 9/11, vaccines & Pizzagate, and for running several Kremlin-funded disinformation channels.

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Homeschooled with nine brothers and sisters, Benny turned out to be a talented young man, earning his Master's degree in history at the age of 16.

He was also working as a youth pastor at his local Baptist church at the age of 15.

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Ben's family was heavily involved in TV, and he also started working for various channels, first as a cameraman and later as an investigative journalist. Eventually he launched his own news segment called Reality Check, in which he promoted libertarian views and Ron Paul.

3/20

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Read 21 tweets

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